American civil rights essay

The Birmingham Campaign ended with a victory in May of 1963 when local officials agreed to remove "White Only" and "Black Only" signs from restrooms and drinking fountains in downtown Birmingham; desegregate lunch counters; deploy a "Negro job improvement plan"; release jailed demonstrators; and create a biracial committee to monitor the agreement. Desegregation would take place slowly over the next few months coupled with violent attacks from angry segregationists, including the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church that killed four young girls. Learn more about some of the events that followed the campaign and the city's continued push for integration.

In the face of these challenges, whites often reacted by arresting the protesters, and sometimes by attacking them. The Ku Klux Klan revived: it set off bombs and killed civil rights workers. But the leaders of the civil rights movement refused to be deterred by prison: King went to jail 13 times. And by maintaining a discipline and a spirit of non-violence, the movement turned the violence of its opponents to its own advantage. Newspaper reporters and television cameras inadvertently aided the movement: the world was sickened by the sight of white mobs and club-wielding policemen attacking non-violent, hymn-singing marchers.

Finally, President Johnson decided to send soldiers from the United States Army and the Alabama National Guard to protect the marchers. [93] From March 21 to March 25, the marchers walked along the " Jefferson Davis Highway" from Selma to Montgomery. [93] On March 25, 25,000 people entered Montgomery. [93] Martin Luther King gave a speech called "How Long? Not Long" at the Alabama State Capitol . He told the marchers that it would not be long before they had equal rights, "because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice ." [98]